It’s official. Parents and children at Willard Park need a Pied Piper. And fast. -more-

An Oakland City Councilmember said Saturday that the Chief of the Oakland Police Department has a plan to almost triple the number of police officers on Oakland streets at peak crime periods, but said that implementation of the plan is being delayed by Mayor Jerry Brown and City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente because of opposition from the Oakland Police Officers Association labor union. -more-

The West Berkeley Bowl marketplace will usher in significant and unavoidable traffic, a new report says. -more-

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) wants to get rolling on a rapid bus route through Berkeley, Oakland and San Leandro. -more-

The City Council will begin its session tonight (Tuesday) at 5 p.m. with a workshop looking at what it might mean for Berkeley to join other cities to replace PG&E with a locally owned energy supplier. -more-

The quasi-political operatives in the Berkeley mayor’s office placed their final salvo against Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Ordinance on the Internet on Friday night. For those who are interested, it can be found in the quaintly named Bates Update Update section of the city’s website. With attachments and appendixes, it’s much too long for citizens to read and comment on before the City Council votes tonight (Tuesday) to adopt it in principle; and anyway, rumor has it that Bates has the votes to do whatever he wants. City Hall insiders say that Capitelli, Anderson, Wozniak, Moore and Maio are in the bag. Doughty veteran Betty Olds is a long-time environmentalist and her own woman, so she might cast an independent vote at the last minute. Kriss Worthington and Dona Spring are the conscience of the council, though he sometimes votes with the majority if he knows his side is going down anyhow. She’s a tiger who votes her principles to the end. -more-